Watch the Video Here:
https://youtu.be/xGhzPwbeTy4?si=CjGGMoMG09eVxpxiTranscription of Episode:
When I say the Watergate scandal, what image comes to your mind? I bet it's something like this, right? Course now, I mean, it's just a freebie, but if you gotta tell somebody you're not a crook, I mean, chances are you done lost that battle, you know. It'd be like me telling somebody I'm not fat, but yeah, Doug, okay, you're right, sure.
Um, and while, yes, he was ultimately in charge, he's not really the person you should think about when you think about the Watergate scandal. You should instead be thinking about this guy. Chuck Clawson. Kinda looks like a Chuck, doesn't he? Right? Chuck was born in 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts. Uh, did a stint in the Marines.
Later on became a lawyer with his own private practice. And all that was fine and good, but uh, old Chuck here, he, he had bigger aspirations than that. He was known to be very active in political circles. in the late 1960s. And in 1969, he was appointed a special counsel to President Nixon. That's a really cool sounding job title, and it sounds all important and everything.
But basically, what that meant was Chuck had an official license basically to be a bully. It's what he was. You see, Chuck was known for being very, very ruthless. And, you know, his dog eat dog style basically wound up making Nixon a crook. And it wound up landing Chuck in jail for his part in the Watergate scandal.
Now, you imagine that when a bully goes to jail, that he's probably not happy about it, right? He'd probably hate to be there, they're gonna be in a bad mood, you know, all these things. But that wasn't the case with Chuck. You know what I mean? You see, Chuck goes to prison for roughly seven months. Okay. Some don't.
That was maybe a slap on the wrist. But while Chuck was in jail, he discovered something. He discovered something more important than all the fame and the money and the power that he had been chasing. He discovered God. A lot of people thought, Well, he's not serious about this. He's just, you know, he got jailhouse religion.
Just to make everybody think that he's a better person, but that's not the case. When Chuck got out, he used his skills before that he was trying to use for bad. He wound up forming what was called Prison Fellowship, which turned into one of the largest prison ministries in the world, and it's an organization still going on today.
His time in jail, he's got a quote and I didn't paste it up here, but basically he said all the awards and all the degrees and everything that I have is not what God used with me. He said he used the fact that I was a convict and a felon. That's what God decided to use with me in my story. And I was thinking about Chuck, you know, you go to jail and, and you don't want to be there, but your attitude completely changes.
And it makes me think about Paul. So that's chapter 16, right? Acts chapter 16, we're going to begin in verse 16. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.
And this she kept doing for many days. Paul having become greatly annoyed. I'm glad I'm the only one that doesn't ever get greatly annoyed, by the way. Turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they ceased Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
And when he had brought them into the magistrates, they said, These men are Jews and they're disturbing our city. You see they abdicate custom. They're not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice, and the crowd joined in attacking them. And the magistrates tore their garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
And when they had flicked many blows upon them, they threw them in prison, ordering each other to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them in the innermost prison and fastened their feet in the stalks. And then look what happens in verse 25. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Now, we've studied the story of the Philippian jailer, and usually we would go on and talk about what happens next, the earthquake, and the jailer who comes running in, and that's an awesome story, but that's not our lesson today. I want to stop right here at verse 25. And I want to ask you, how did they do this?
I mean, they're in some of the most miserable conditions you can imagine. I was talking to somebody the other day at one of my prison studies. You know, a Roman jail, I said, the jail you're in right now looks like the Hilton compared to what a Roman jail cell would be. They've been beaten. Right? They're cold, they're miserable, they're fastened in stocks, okay?
That's not exactly the most ergonomical thing ever. Right? It's designed to inflict pain on you, actually. They are suffering. Physically. And here they are, singing praises to God, and praying. How do they do that? Well, duh, they're, you know, they're, that's the Apostle Paul, man. He's a, he's a superhero of the faith.
Right? I mean, they were superhuman. Really? Do you really think they were that much different than we are? Do you think when you cut the Apostle Paul he didn't bleed? Do you think when you hit him with something and it laid a bruise on him that it feels any differently than when something hits you and you get a bruise on yourself?
How were they able to do this? I mean, if you and I got thrown in jail over something falsely, I might be mad enough to buy nails into. I'm not being a grumpy attitude. I might say some things out of my mouth that that I would regret. Not Paul and silence. They're singing and praying at midnight. At midnight.
How did they do this? I submit to you that they learned how to do this. They learned how to, what I want to call, suffer well. I hope you understand what I mean when I say that term, suffer well. They were suffering in this moment. But yet they were doing a good job of it. They were praising God, singing.
Right? How did they do that? They learned it. You look at Philippians chapter 4, we're getting to verse 10. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now, at length, you have revived your concern. for me. You were decent served for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need for. I have learned Paul said he learned, right?
I learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to about in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hungry and abundance and need. Paul said we learn how to suffer. How did they do that? And if they did it, do you think that we can learn the same things?
Well I submit to you they learned it from the scriptures. You say, well duh, duh. Right? Of course they learned it from the scriptures. But where did they learn it from the scriptures? There may be more than one good answer to that, but this morning I, I think I might have one good answer. It's Psalm chapter 40.
And I want us to take our time this morning and go through that psalm And I hope the things that we can learn there can help us understand How to better suffer well Right? So, before we begin in Psalm chapter 40, I need you to understand that this is This is Hebrew poetry, okay? And, there's different kinds of Hebrew poetry But this Hebrew poem uses what's called parallelism And basically what it will do, it will say something, and in the next line it will say it a different way, but kind of make the same point.
It's using repetition over and over and over again. Okay? It's the, it's the poetic style that it's written in, but also repetition is good for what? Help it, help us get it through our thick skulls, right? The teacher says it over and over and over and over. right? So they'll understand it. So when you see this repetition in this, just know that it's there on purpose.
Okay? But we're gonna look at some things that are going to help us learn how to suffer well. And the first thing that we learned is in verses one and two. First one. I waited patiently for the Lord. He declined to me and heard my cry. He grew me up from the pit of destruction out of the Maori bog and set my feet.
Making my steps secure. I submit to you the first thing we have to do to learn how to suffer well, is we have to learn how to wait. Oh, great, Doug. Waiting. I hate waiting. Right? I don't want to wait for the microwave to get done. Let alone anything else. Right? I mean, yes, I admit to you, it's not fun, I didn't write it, don't get mad at me, okay?
But sometimes, waiting is required. But I want to help you understand. Maybe some things that can help waiting be easier. I want you to notice here this, in the second line, that word inclined. I waited patiently for the Lord, okay? But while I was waiting, here's what was going on behind the scenes. God inclined to me.
What does that word mean? It means to lean over, to draw close. Okay? And not only did he lean over and draw close, what? He heard me. I mean, we all know, right? God doesn't usually do things on our timeframe. We look at a situation and say, why is there any progress here? Right? But just know, just maybe because it doesn't seem like there's not any progress, you need to understand there is always proximity.
Right? Yeah. Just because God hasn't answered your situation yet, maybe he hasn't making the progress that you won't. He is inclined to you. He's listening, right? You can have proximity with God even when even without progress, they spent a night in jail roughly. Well, they don't even spend a whole night.
They spend what? Midnight, but three in the mornings when the jailer, okay, 67 hours. Okay. That's not a long span of time. Me sitting here just saying it. But I guarantee you, if I'm the one that's been whipped and bruised and beat and I'm the one fastened in the stocks, right? And I got to spend 67 hours. It seems like an eternity, doesn't it?
But just because it doesn't seem like we're making any progress on this situation doesn't mean God isn't near us, right? You keep reading verse two, they're going to get out. You keep reading Acts 16, they're going to get out of this jail. Right? We, we know that's going to happen. And look at what he says.
He drew me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog. That's, that's a word phrase we don't use a lot. Basically, miry bog means mud. He drove me out of the mud hole. Right? This idea of me sinking and being stuck. He drew me up out of that and notice this. He set my feet upon a rock. Okay, being on the rock is a lot different than being down in the mud hole.
But I want you to notice this next part and he made my steps secure. Now, maybe I'm reading too much into this, but if, if he puts me on the rock and the rocks big enough that I could make multiple steps, that's got to be a big rock, right? I can't help but have my mind drawn back to Matthew 16 when, when he asked the disciples in verse 15, who do you say that I am?
You're the Christ, the son of the living God. He tells Peter, you're correct, to what, upon this rock I will build my church. Right? The rock was the foundation that the Lord's church was built on. And this is a long time before anybody on earth knew anything about the Lord's church, but I can't help but draw the parallel there.
What better place to wait than among the family of God, right? Who better to support you in your situation, in your struggle, right? Than having your feet planted on that rock. God will deliver us. It may not be in our time frame. It may not be the way that we want. But we can understand that he will, right?
Amen. We can understand that he's close by. If he was in that jail cell when they were singing praises to him at midnight, then he's with us in our situation and whatever we're going through when we're the ones. So, right, I'm gonna learn to wait. That'll help us suffer. Well, let's go on to versus three and four.
We've already seen this in the in the jail, and this is the thing that made me these two things together, right? He put a new song in my mouth. A song of praise for our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn away to the proud, to those who go astray after a lot.
The second thing we've got to learn to do if we're going to suffer well is we've got to learn how to praise God. You understand that when I praise God, I may be, I may be drawn to praise him. I might be, my mind might be triggered to praise him because of the situation that I'm in. But I'm not praising God because of my circumstances.
God, everything's going great, I'm going to praise you. I don't praise God because of my situation. I praise God because of who he is. Because he sent his son to die for me, because of his character, because of his glory, because he's perfect and awesome and holy and righteous and all these things.
Irregardless of what my situation is and how bad I may be suffering, he's still God. He's still sitting on his throne. Nothing can separate his love from me. No matter how bad I'm struggling, no matter what situation I'm in. Romans chapter 8, right? Neither height nor depth nor any created thing can separate us from the love of God.
I praise Him not because of who I am or where I am. I praise Him for who He is. A lot of times the best thing to help us in suffering is what? Just to get the focus off of us. Just zoom the microscope out just a little bit. And let's look around. Irregardless of what suffering I have going on, he's still God and nothing is going to change that.
Nothing that I go through. No amount of fiery darts that Satan may lob at me is going to change who he is and his goodness and his greatness and his mercy. I need to learn to praise him if I'm gonna suffer well. And the next one is kind of an outgrowth. From this one. We need to learn to proclaim him.
Right? Before I even read this, go back in Acts 16 verse 25. It's midnight in the jailhouse, and I imagine on most nights in a Roman jail, you might hear whimpering or crying or maybe silence. You generally don't hear what? I got his nose or whatever they were singing. I don't know what they were singing, but honey, it was different.
It says what the prisoners were what listening to them. That Philippian jailer at some point, even though he fell asleep, he had been listening to them. I mean, you think about it. If I'm going to, if I'm going to praise God, can I really do that and hide it? Can I praise God in those situations and somebody not see it?
Somebody not here. First five. You have multiplied. Oh, Lord, my God, your wonders, deeds and your thoughts towards us. None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell them they're more than can be told and sacrifice and offering. You have not delighted, but you have given me an open an open ear. Burn offering and sin offering, you're not required.
Then I said, behold, I had come in the scroll of the book. It is written of me. I delight to do your will. Oh my God, your law is within my heart. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. Behold, I have not strained my lips. As you know, oh Lord, I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart.
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness to the great congregation. You see, all those times, right? I went and told somebody. I went and told somebody. I went and told somebody. You see, we're talking about how to suffer well.
We're talking about how can we as Christians suffer while we're in Christ. But I want you to understand, for every Christian that's suffering while we're in Christ. How many people are there around every day that are suffering outside of Christ?
And how are they going to know where they need to go? To get the help that they need, the help that they need for their soul. Come unto me all you who are labored and heavy laden and I will what, give you rest. How are they going to know that if we don't tell them? How, how could I ever just want to praise God in secret?
Oh I don't want nobody to know, I don't want nobody to know. Why do I want nobody to know? What's that say about me? It doesn't say anything about God. You're a city set upon a hill. Your salt, your life. You literally make this world a better place to be by proclaiming him. Sometimes the best thing I can do to help me through my suffering is to help somebody else in their suffering.
I may not get, I may not be able to do a thing about what I'm going through, but maybe I can help them. Maybe I can get a little joy and peace and comfort out of helping somebody else lift their burden when I can't lift my own. Maybe the very thing that helps us learn how to suffer well, right, is to proclaim Him.
Now, this next one, this next one takes a little, takes a jump, right? It takes a little bit of leap of logic. But it's a good leap, right? Verse 11 through 12. As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me. Your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me. For evils have encompassed me beyond number.
My iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails, uh, my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let those Be put to shame and disappointed all together who seek to snatch away my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delighted my heart.
Let those be appalled because of the shame who say to me, ah, ah. I want you to notice everything before verse 11 is talking about what God has done in the past. And you back up here, everything from verse 11 on is not about what God has done in the past. It's about what? What I believe that God will do in the future.
You see, sometimes when you're suffering, and you're going through it and God isn't delivering on the timeline that you want, sometimes you've got to remember what God has done in the past. Has God ever helped you before in the past? Ever helped bring you through a situation? Ever maybe worked something out better than you could even imagine that He possibly could have done?
Well, if he's done it before, don't you think he's strong enough to do it again? If he's ever helped you before, don't you think that should build inside of you a confidence that, what, I know he can do it again? I think about Abraham in Genesis 22, he gets to the base of that mountain, and he looks at his servants and says, Me and the boy will go up on the mountain and worship, and we will return to you again.
He knew God had told him to go up there and kill his son, but he knew somehow God was going to work it out, and we're both coming back. And guess what God did? He did it! He didn't know how he was going to do it. But he took what he knew, he took his experience, and he took his faith, and he mixed it together and said, You know what?
God is going to take care of this. Right? I know you're not going to restrain your mercy from me. I know you're not going to keep your love for me. I know that your faithfulness will ever preserve me. I know it. I trust it. I believe it. You're not going to convince me otherwise. I don't know when it's going to come.
I don't know how it's going to come, but I know it's going to come. Right? I've just decided that. You can't change my mind on it. Right? Now. He's also asking a request, right? God, I need you to come on. I need you to deliver me. I need you to hear me, but there's not any hint of distrust here. Make your requests known to God, right?
We do that. But we do that understanding and believing what? That he can work it out. That he can do it. I think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in front of King Nebuchadnezzar. And if y'all don't bow down and worship me, boys, I'm gonna throw you in that fiery furnace. You can go ahead if you want to.
Our God is pretty strong enough to deliver us from you. And whether He chooses to or not, we're still going to trust Him and I ain't worshiping your statue. Right? I have to make my mind up. That's what faith is. Either you're going to believe Him or you're going to not. Right? Joshua said, Choose this day whom you will serve.
You gotta, you gotta decide. Has he done anything before? And if he's done anything before, can he do it again? It's not a decision I can make for you. But if you make that decision, you've got to hang on to it. You've got to hang on to it. Because, like I say, God will deliver. But you've got to believe that.
Right? And lastly, verses 16 and 17. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation say continually, great is the Lord, but ask for me, I love this part, verse 17, ask for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought of me. You're my help and my deliverer, do not delay, oh my God.
It's important through this process of suffering to remain humble. Talk about proclaiming, proclaiming him. Maybe, maybe the psalmist here when he proclaimed God, maybe some people come to God because of what he did. You know, sometimes when something happens to us, we almost want to say to God, you know who I am.
You know how long I've been following you. You know what I do for you. Why are you? Why are you letting this happen to me? At the very best I could ever be in my life. I'm still poor and needy. I still need God and his mercy and his grace and his love and kindness, right? And I can't ever forget that. No matter how much I may progress in man's eyes, I'm still poor and needy.
And if I ever forget that, it's gonna make it really hard for me to suffer well, right? Now we started in Philippians 4, 10 through 12. And everybody thinks about verse 13, right? I can do all things through him that strengthens me, right? We talk about that verse. People spout that verse. And I tell you, it's almost spouted today.
It's almost used like, you know, Carrie Underwood had that song. I think it was Carrie Underwood, Jesus take the wheel, you know. Jesus take the wheel, you know. Basically, I'm not going to do anything, Jesus. You take over and do it for me. That verse today, I think, for a lot of people. It's used that way. I can do all things because Jesus is going to come do it for me.
Now, I'm going to tell you verse 13 looks a lot more like Psalm 40 than it does Jesus take the wheel. Right? Go read 2 Corinthians 11 and look at everything Paul suffered through. And then when he says I have learned the secrets how to be content with much or little. Right? Verse 13 looks a lot more like Psalm 40 than it does Jesus I'm just gonna throw my hands up and God's gonna take care of me, right?
Because we're going to go through some things, and that's okay. Those things are forging inside of us. A faith and a heart that when we get home and get to be with our God in heaven, that it will all be all right. We're not gonna want anything else than a relationship with him. None of the things that's happened to us, all the heartaches and all the pains and everything that has ever went wrong in our life is not going to matter anymore because we're going to be home with a God who loves us more than anything.
We talked this morning in Luke 15 in the Bible class about God doesn't care about the stuff, He cares about us. He cares about the stuff, He cares about us, He cares about our heart, He cares about our soul. And I don't know what you're struggling with today. God I don't know what you need. I don't know if you need to come down in front.
I don't know if you need to go out back. I don't know if you need to call somebody on the phone this afternoon. But I know we have a group of God's people here that love God and love one another. And if we can help you today, we want to do that while we're having this conversation.